Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJanuary 28th, 2010
Due to the control of the Maryland Senate being in the hands of Senate President Mike Miller, a Democrat representing Calvert and Prince George’s Counties, and due to the strategic placement of Sen. C. Anthony Muse on the Judicial Proceeding Committee, there is little chance of Maryland voting to offer its gay citizens the same marriage rights that it joyously bestows on its heterosexual citizens. These two men are devoted enemies of equality.
However, marriage recognition may come in another way.
Maryland code section 2-201 says: “Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State.” However, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has been asked to determine whether same-sex marriages conducted outside the state must be recognized within Maryland. Currently, speculation is that it must. (Daily Record)
He has not disclosed when he will issue his opinion.
Gansler\’s silence has fueled speculation that he — a supporter of gay marriage — will suggest that Maryland must recognize same-sex marriages under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As interpreted by the Supreme Court, a state must extend full faith and credit to the laws of other states unless doing so would offend the state\’s public policy.
This question has taken on increased attention as we get closer to March 2, the day that Washington DC attains marriage equality (much of the Maryland population lives in suburbs of the Nation’s Capital). To ward off that possibility, Sen. Emmett Burns has introduce legislation to deny recognition to out of state same-sex marriages.
Today Mr. Burns testified in the Judiciary Committee of the horrors that could come with recognizing the vows and promises of these long-term, committed, devoted relationships.
“I believe that same-sex marriage is against the natural order,” said Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., D-Baltimore County, the measure\’s sponsor.
I think it unlikely that Burns’ bill will win in the Senate. But it is fairly certain to fail in the House. In fact, should a bill allowing marriage equality be allowed to obtain a vote in the House, there is a good chance it would pass.
“We have the votes in the House to pass marriage equality,” said Del. Heather R. Mizeur, a Montgomery County Democrat. “There are not enough votes to get it out of [the Senate committee]. Until that happens, until there is some change of heart or change in political landscape or change of composition in that committee, that bill is going to have a hard time.”
If Gansler finds that Maryland must recognize the marriage occurring in Washington, that state may well join New York in recognizing but not conducting same-sex marriages.
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volpi
January 29th, 2010
i do not understand if the recognition of same-sex marriages conducted in others jurisdictions attributes the rights of married couples under new york law.i have a friend who is going to marry in spain(his fiancè is spanish,he is italian)and he says that new york yet gives same-sex couples equal rights. i am not a native english speaker and i am sorry in case errors occur
occono
January 29th, 2010
New York doesn’t “fully” recognize them as I understand it, the option, not mandate, to recognize them is….is this right?
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